Fresh Loaf

Less than an hour after Pres.-elect Barack Obama’s victory speech in Chicago’s Grant Park, more than 300 people gathered early Wednesday morning at the intersection of Jackson Street and Auburn Avenue outside the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church — the same house of worship where Civil Rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr. preached and organized.

Chants of “Yes, We Did,” drum circles and blaring car horns motivated the crowd of young and old and all races and ethnicities. There was even the electric slide.

I left at 1:45 a.m. and people were still going strong. Here are just a few of the photos. We’ll post more tomorrow as well as snapshots and reports of the Georgia GOP party held in Buckhead.

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HOPE FOR THE 1 PERCENTERS: UGA scientists want to make a better peanut, one that won’t spark reactions in the 1 percent of Americans who are allergic to certain proteins in the nut.

CRAZY LIKE A FOX: A Kennesaw State professor has written a book that goes inside the Dark Genius of Roger Ailes and Fox News.

POLICE ACCOMMODATION: The new police headquarters downtown isn’t the Ritz-Carlton, it’s more like a “clean, comfortable” Holiday Inn.

T-SHIRT KILLER: A man walked into a convenience store in southwest Atlanta yesterday and asked for an extra large t-shirt. When the clerk turned to get it, the man opened fire and killed the clerk, then calmly walked out.

WHAT MORE IN THE NAME OF LOVE? While Dr. Martin Luther King’s kids fight over their inheritance, organizers are behind schedule in raising $32 million to bring his papers to Atlanta.

FAST CAR: Something else in Clayton County that’s not working is the C-TRAN bus system. Too many people are using it now and there aren’t enough buses to meet the demand.

LAST WORD: The candidates for U.S. Senate in tomorrow’s Democratic primary square off in the final debate.

HOSEA FEED THE HUNGRY: Sheila Zackery readies a load of bread to distribute to Atlanta’s homeless.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

Every Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Hosea Feed the Hungry program feeds, clothes and offers medical care to more than 10,000 of Atlanta’s needy at Turner Field. It’s what the program is best known for, but it’s not all it does.

On Friday, the charity distributed food, blankets and toiletries to homeless Atlantans in shanties around the city. Loading the truck with supplies, outreach coordinator Sheila Zackery said poverty in Atlanta has grown in recent years, despite the city’s overall economic good fortune. Nearly 6,000 people came to the charity for meals last Christmas, up from 4,500 in 2006, she said.

Afemo Omilami, who is a board member and husband of the group’s president, Elisabeth Omilami, says 50 percent of the people the charity serves have jobs, but cannot keep up with housing and health care.

“In this great city, people are living in Third World conditions,” he said. “What does that say about us?”

On the occasion of Martin Luther King Jr.’s 79th birthday, here’s an excerpt from his April 16, 1963 “Letter From Birmingham Jail” about the importance of confrontation and pissing people off:

I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.

The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.

Though “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is widely reprinted and quoted, it is relatively obscure because of broadcast media’s understandable focus on King’s speeches for which audio and video footage exist — namely “I Have A Dream” and, to a lesser extent, “I’ve Been To The Mountaintop,” delivered the day before his murder.

It’s unfortunate, because “Letter From Birmingham Jail” is stunning. If you have the slightest interest in King’s life or work, you won’t regret taking 10 minutes to read it in its entirety.

It also makes you wonder, if they were looking for a viable excuse to get rid of the festival in the first place, and the drought made for the perfect scapegoat?

— Duane Moody wonders if the mayor’s decision to keep Pride out of Piedmont Park this year because of the drought might simply be a convenient excuse to thwart the GLBT community’s biggest annual party.

Duane may be on to something.

The mayor also told the Dogwood Festival people that they couldn’t have their festival in Piedmont Park. What color are Dogwood blossoms? WHITE! Think about it.

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The Speaker claims the Senate “shirked” its responsibilities today. I say we did exactly what we were sent here to do – to carefully and thoughtfully decide which actions benefit the people of Georgia.

— Sen. Eric Johnson, R-Savannah, blogging for Peach Pundit, calls B.S. on fellow Republican Speaker Glenn Richardson.

Long story short, the House voted yesterday to override 12 of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s vetoes from last year. The Senate is constitutionally required to “immediately consider” the House vetoes. Speaker Richardson is claiming “immediately consider” means vote now. Sen. Johnson says “immediately consider” means start reviewing it carefully.

CL’s Scott Henry explains more here.

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I think that shows the difference between Clinton and Obama. Bill & Hillary Clinton have displayed an interest in civil rights as well as the larger African-American community even when they weren’t running for office. Obama on the other hand, well…he needs the black vote…enough said.

— Andre at Georgia Politics Unfiltered thinks Clintonic interest in civil rights and African-Americans is sincere, but Obamanian interest is just political.

I wonder if he laughed when he wrote that, because I laughed when I read it.

The decision to name a Chinese sculptor, who lives in mainland China and is known for his sculptures of Chairman Mao, to design and sculpt the memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. planned in Washington D.C. has prompted a rising storm of protest.

Gilbert Young is a legendary black artist who grew up in Cincinnati, and now lives in Atlanta. He has emerged as one of the most vocal critics of the decision by the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Foundation to hire Lei Yixin. Young has created a website, King Is Ours, that has become the Internet epicenter of the protests.

“It’s one of the most immoral acts I could think of,” Young tells CL. “If an all-white organization had chosen an Asian person of another country to do this sculpture, Jesse Jackson and everybody else would’ve been in the streets. Instead they’ve been quiet, giving this a pass. Well, I’m not.”

Young says the foundation is comprised of members of Alpha Phi Alpha, one of the country’s oldest African-American fraternities. The foundation originally selected sculptor (and the first black astronaut) Ed Dwight to design the memorial that will reside along the Tidal Basin between the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials. But Dwight was removed from the project over creative differences.

Dwight thinks something deeper was at hand. He told the Los Angeles Times that he was told the foundation hopes the choice of a Chinese sculptor will persuade the Chinese government to give $25 million to the King Memorial fund, which needs to raise $100 million.

A spokeswoman for the foundation told the Times there have been no discussions with the Chinese government, and no donations.

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Eddie Long, the self-proclaimed “bishop” of the 25,000-member New Birth Missionary Baptist megachurch in Lithonia, has the largest congregation in Georgia. He’s also got a $350,000 Bentley; a 20-acre, $1.4-million estate; and a heavenly bank balance.

But it appears he also wants to be the spiritual kingpin of metro Atlanta. Last year, he officiated at the funeral of Coretta Scott King and, just this week, the DeKalb County School System used his church as its official meeting hall for teachers — a controversial choice given Long’s long history of anti-gay sermonizing.

Now, Long, a proponent of the gospel of prosperity who puts his followers’ money where his mouth is, is gearing up for a blowout gala Aug. 17 to celebrate his 20 years at the helm of New Birth. We’re guessing the guest list of 1,200 for the black-tie affair at the Georgia World Congress Center doesn’t include many of the poor and needy types mentioned in the New Testament.

It does, however, include a roster of movers and shakers, most prominently Mayor Shirley Franklin and former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young. A highlight of the event will be a “special presentation” by MLK’s youngest daughter, Bernice King, purportedly on behalf of her late mother. It seems to us that Long is hoping to claim the spiritual mantle of the slain Civil Rights leader. Will Atlanta let him succeed?